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''Gothaer Waggonfabrik'' (''Gotha'', GWF) was a German manufacturer of
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
established in the late nineteenth century at
Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
. During the two world wars, the company expanded into
aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
building.


World War I

In
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Gotha was the manufacturer of a highly successful series of
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
s based on a 1914 design by
Oskar Ursinus Carl Oskar Ursinus (11 March 1877 – 6 July 1952) was a pioneer of German aviation and is remembered mainly for his contributions to sailplane designs and the sport of gliding. He has been nicknamed the ''Rhönvater'' ("Rhön father") because ...
, but heavily reimagined by Hans Burkhard. From 1917, the Burkhard-designed twin pusher biplane bomber aircraft were capable of carrying out
strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
missions over
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the first heavier-than-air aircraft used in this role. Several dozen of these bombers were built in a number of subtypes - the Ursinus-based Gotha G.I, and the succeeding Burkhard-designed G.II, G.III, G.IV, and G.V. This last variant was the most prolific, with thirty-six in squadron service at one point.


Inter war years

Whilst Germany was prohibited from military aircraft manufacture by the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, Gotha returned to its railway endeavours, but returned to aviation with the rise of the
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
government and the abandonment of the Treaty's restrictions.


Auto-production 1921 - 1928

In 1921 the company purchased
Automobilwerk Eisenach The Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE) was an automobile manufacturer in Eisenach, Germany. History Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach Heinrich Ehrhardt founded the Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach (FFE) in Eisenach on 3 December 1896 as a stock company. Initi ...
, thereby entering automobile production and, with the Dixi 3/15 DA-1 playing an important part in expanding the German auto-market to buyers who hitherto would have been motorized only as motorcyclists, if at all. However, the company encountered a cash crisis in 1928 and the Dixi branded auto-business was sold to BMW: the Dixi 3/15 DA-1 was rebadged in 1928 as the BMW 3/15 DA-2, the name by which today the little car is better remembered. In 1924 the Cyklon Maschinenfabrik, a manufacturer that had concentrated on motor-bikes and cycle cars came to be merged into the larger Gothaer Waggonfabrik business, through a rather indirect route of company purchases and sales. This gave Cyklon access to the viable sales and distribution network of Dixi and aspirations to become a serious auto-producer. Between 1927 and 1929 the company produced the Cyklon 9/40 which at the time was the most inexpensive six cylinder powered car sold in Germany. The conservative looking car featured a modern all-steel body produced by Germany's leading producer of steel car bodies,
Ambi-Budd Ambi-Budd was a German automobile body company founded by Edward Gowen Budd In Germany, Edward Gowen Budd worked with Arthur Müller and set up a steel pressing plant ''Ambi Budd Presswerke'' (ABP) in the old Rumpler factory and became a successful ...
's Berlin based business. It was, in fact, the first all-steel standard car body produced by Ambi-Budd in Berlin and, incongruously to some modern readers, was shared with the Adler Standard 6, a more powerful and higher priced six cylinder car from one of Germany's mainstream auto-makers of the 1930s. The sale by Gothaer Waggonfabrik of the cash-strapped Dixi business to BMW meant an end to Cyklon's access to a sales network, and highlighted the lack of cash for running the auto-business which rapidly fizzled out after 1928, although Cyklon was not formally wound up until 1931.


World War II

Gotha's main contribution to the new
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
was the
Gotha Go 145 The Gotha Go 145 is a German World War II-era biplane of wood and fabric construction used by ''Luftwaffe'' training units. Although obsolete by the start of World War II, the Go 145 remained in operational service until the end of the War in Eu ...
trainer, of which 1,182 were built. The firm also produced the
Gotha Go 242 The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. It was an upgrade over the DFS 230 in both cargo/troop capacity and flight characteristics. It saw limited combat action. There were multiple variants. Deve ...
assault glider Military gliders (an offshoot of common gliders) have been used by the militaries of various countries for carrying troops (glider infantry) and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were ...
and licence-built
Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...
. Perhaps the most famous Gotha product of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, however, was an aircraft that never entered service, the
Horten Ho 229 The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (or Gotha Go 229 for extensive re-design work done by Gotha to prepare the aircraft for mass production) was a German prototype fighter/bomber initially designed by Reimar and Walter Horten to be built ...
. This was an exotic jet-powered, flying wing
fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
designed by the Horten brothers, who lacked the facilities to mass-produce it. Two prototypes flew, the second (powered) version lost in an accident on its third flight. The third prototype- built to a modified design - was almost complete and four more were in various stages of manufacture before the end of the war. The Ho 229 V3 ended up in American hands, and is currently at the NASM's
Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...
, under evaluation for restoration. On 22 February 1944, a squadron of American bombers was sent from Britain to bomb the factory, but due to bad weather, the mission was cancelled before they reached Gotha. On the way back, the Dutch border city of Nijmegen was bombed instead as a 'target of opportunity', killing hundreds of civilians. On 24 February 1944, 239 American
B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
s are dispatched to the primary target at Gotha, Germany (169 bomb Gotha); the lead bombardier from 2AD suffered from anoxia due to a faulty oxygen mask and mistook Eisenach as the primary target, 43 other B-24s released on his mistake (44 bomb Eisenach); they claim 50-10-20 Luftwaffe aircraft; 34 B-24s are lost and 29 are damaged; casualties are: 3 KIA, 6 WIA and 324 MIA.


Post war

Following the war, Gotha once again returned to its original purpose, building
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s and light rail vehicles in the former
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. The tram production ended in 1967, after East Germany started importing ČKD-Tatra trams from Czechoslovakia. From 1983 on, parts for the
Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the ...
535 __NOTOC__ Year 535 ( DXXXV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Belisarius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 12 ...
/ 1.3 were produced. After the end of the Wartburg production in Eisenach after 1991 the production concentrated on truck trailers. In 1997 the company was split and privatized by the
Treuhandanstalt The (" Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. C ...
. Today the ''Schmitz Cargobull Gotha GmbH'' (production site of Schmitz Cargobull AG) produces around 4000 truck trailers per year. The second successor is the ''Gothaer Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH'', which produces lattice mast elements for mobile cranes and welded components.


List of aircraft

Gotha aircraft included: * Gotha B.I/II * Gotha G.I * Gotha G.II *
Gotha G.III The Gotha G.III was a twin-engine pusher biplane heavy bomber used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. It succeeded the G.II in production and differed primarily in powerplant and in armament details ...
*
Gotha G.IV The Gotha G.IV was a heavy bomber used by the (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. It was the first mass-produced large airplane. Development Experience with the earlier G.III showed that the rear gunner could not efficientl ...
*
Gotha G.V The Gotha G.V was a heavy bomber used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. Designed for long-range service and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG, the Gotha G.V was used principally as a night bomber. ...
*
Gotha G.VI The Gotha G.VI was an experimental bomber aircraft designed and built in Germany during World War I. Development The Gotha G.VI was an experimental bomber developed from the Gotha G.V. Using the standard wing cellule from the Gotha G.V the G.VI ...
*
Gotha G.VII The Gotha G.VII. a.k.a.GL.VII, was a bomber aircraft produced in Germany during the final months of World War I. With the strategic bombing campaign effectively over, it was intended to be a high-speed tactical bomber with a secondary reconnaiss ...
* Gotha G.IX *
Gotha G.X The Gotha G.X was an experimental bomber aircraft designed and built in Germany from 1917. Development The Gotha G.X was an experimental bomber with a general arrangement similar to the Gotha G.V The Gotha G.V was a heavy bomber used by t ...
*
Gotha LD.1 The Gotha LD.1 (for ''Land Doppeldecker'' - "Land Biplane") and its derivatives were a family of military aircraft produced in Germany just before and during the early part of World War I. Used for training and reconnaissance, they were conventi ...
*
Gotha WD.2 The Gotha WD.2 (for ''Wasser Doppeldecker'' - "Water Biplane") and its derivatives were a family of military reconnaissance aircraft produced in Germany just before and during the early part of World War I. Design and development The WD.2 was ...
*
Gotha WD.3 The Gotha WD.3 (for ''Wasser Doppeldecker'' - "Water Biplane") was a pusher configuration, pusher reconnaissance floatplane built in prototype form in Germany in 1915. Development Since 1913, Gothaer Waggonfabrik, Gotha had been manufacturing a ...
*
Gotha WD.7 The Gotha WD.7 (for ''Wasser Doppeldecker'' - "Water Biplane") was a reconnaissance floatplane developed in the German Empire during World War I. Development After the pusher Gotha WD.3, WD.3 was not accepted by the Imperial German Navy, Gotha ...
, seaplane trainer, 1916 *
Gotha WD.11 The Gotha WD.11 (for ''Wasser Doppeldecker'' - "Water Biplane") was a torpedo bomber seaplane developed in Germany during World War I. When the general configuration of the Gotha WD.7 proved promising, Gotha set to work designing a much larger ...
, * Gotha WD.14, *
Gotha WD.27 The Gotha WD.27 (for ''Wasser Doppeldecker'' - "Water Biplane") was a patrol seaplane developed in Germany during World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global confl ...
, *
Gotha Go 145 The Gotha Go 145 is a German World War II-era biplane of wood and fabric construction used by ''Luftwaffe'' training units. Although obsolete by the start of World War II, the Go 145 remained in operational service until the end of the War in Eu ...
, trainer *
Gotha Go 146 The Gotha Go 146 was a twin-engine utility aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1930s. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage, the main units of which retracted into the engine nacelles on the wings. ...
, small transport (twin-engine), 1935 *
Gotha Go 147 The Gotha Go 147 was a German experimental two-seat tailless aircraft designed in 1936 by Gothaer Waggonfabrik and Dr. A. Kupper. Two examples were built and flown. Development was abandoned before the start of World War II. Design and development ...
, STOL reconnaissance (prototype) *
Gotha Go 149 The Gotha Go 149 was a military aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1930s for training fighter pilots. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage, the main units of which retracted inwards. The wing w ...
, military trainer, two built *
Gotha Go 150 The Gotha Go 150 was a light aircraft designed at the German company Gothaer Waggonfabrik in the late 1930s. It was intended for civilian use, but ended up being used as a Trainer (aircraft), military trainer. Development In January 1937 Major W ...
, light aircraft *
Horten Ho 229 The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (or Gotha Go 229 for extensive re-design work done by Gotha to prepare the aircraft for mass production) was a German prototype fighter/bomber initially designed by Reimar and Walter Horten to be built ...
, fighter (flying-wing), Gotha was selected for mass-production *
Gotha Go 242 The Gotha Go 242 was a transport glider used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. It was an upgrade over the DFS 230 in both cargo/troop capacity and flight characteristics. It saw limited combat action. There were multiple variants. Deve ...
, transport glider *
Gotha Go 244 The Gotha Go 244 was a transport aircraft used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Development The Go 244 was the powered version of the Gotha Go 242 military glider transport. Studies for powered versions of the Go 242 began early in the ...
, transport *
Gotha Go 345 The Gotha Go 345 was a prototype German Military transport glider of the Second World War. A single example was tested in 1944.
, assault glider *
Gotha Ka 430 __NOTOC__ The Gotha Ka 430 was a military transport glider, first built in 1944. The glider was designed by Albert Kalkert. Twelve had been produced by the end of World War II, but none of them was used operationally. The glider could carry t ...
, transport glider *
Gotha Taube The Etrich ''Taube'', also known by the names of the various later manufacturers who built versions of the type, such as the Rumpler ''Taube'', was a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft. It was the first military aeroplane to be mass-produced in ...
a variation of the
Etrich Taube The Etrich ''Taube'', also known by the names of the various later manufacturers who built versions of the type, such as the Rumpler ''Taube'', was a pre-World War I monoplane aircraft. It was the first military aeroplane to be mass-produced in ...


See also

*
List of RLM aircraft designations This is a list of aircraft type numbers allocated by an institution under the direction of ''Heereswaffenamt'' (before May 1933) and the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) between 1933 and 1945 for German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related ...


References

*


External links

* {{Authority control Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany Rolling stock manufacturers of Germany Tram manufacturers Waggonfabrik Electric vehicle manufacturers of Germany